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Source: Mint Press News
Tanks and Think Tanks: How Taiwanese Cash is Funding the Push to War with China
Twenty years ago, a group of neoconservative think tanks used their power to push for disastrous wars in the Middle East. Now, a new set of think tanks staffed with many of the same experts and funded by Taiwanese money is working hard to convince Americans that there is a new existential threat: China.
by Alan Macleod | April 22, 2021
by Alan Macleod | April 22, 2021
TAIPEI — At MintPress, we have been at the forefront of exposing how Middle Eastern dictatorships and weapons contractors have been funneling money into think tanks and political action committees, keeping up a steady drumbeat for more war and conflict around the world. Yet one little-discussed nation that punches well above its weight in spending cash in Washington is Taiwan.
By studying Taiwan's financial reports, MintPress has ascertained that the semi-autonomous island of 23 million people has, in recent years, given out millions of dollars to many of the largest and most influential think tanks in the United States. This has coincided with a strong upsurge in anti-China rhetoric in Washington, with report after report warning of China's economic rise and demanding that the U.S. intervene more in China-Taiwan disputes.
These think tanks are filled with prominent figures from both parties and have the ears of the most powerful politicians in Washington. It is in their offices that specialists draw up papers and incubate ideas that become tomorrow's policies. They also churn out experts who appear in agenda-setting media, helping to shape and control the public debate on political and economic issues.
Twenty years ago, a group of neoconservative think tanks like the Project for a New American Century, funded by foreign governments and weapons manufacturers, used their power to push for disastrous wars in the Middle East. Now, a new set of think tanks, staffed with many of those same experts who provided the intellectual basis for those invasions, is working hard to convince Americans that there is a new existential threat: China.
A fistful of dollars
In 2019, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) — for all intents and purposes, the Taiwanese embassy — donated between $250,000 and $499,999 to the Brookings Institute, commonly identified as the world's most influential think tank. Taiwanese tech companies have also given large sums to the organization. In turn, Brookings Institute staff like Richard C. Bush (a former member of the National Intelligence Council and a U.S. national intelligence officer for East Asia) vociferously champion the cause of Taiwanese nationalists and routinely condemn Beijing's attempts to bring the island more closely under control.
TECRO featured prominently among myriad defense interests on the donor rolls for both the Atlantic Council, left, and Brookings Institute
Last week, Brookings held an event called "Taiwan's quest for security and the good life," which began with the statement that "Taiwan is rightly praised for its democracy. Elections are free, fair, and competitive; civil and political rights are protected." It went on to warn that the "most consequential" challenge to the island's liberty and prosperity is "China's ambition to end Taiwan's separate existence."
According to another organization's latest financial disclosure, TECRO also gave a six-figure sum to the Atlantic Council, a think tank closely associated with NATO. It is unclear what the Atlantic Council did with that money, but what is certain is that they gave a senior fellowship to Chang-Ching Tu, an academic employed by the Taiwanese military to teach at the country's National Defense University. In turn, Tu authored Atlantic Council reports describing his country as a "champion [of] global democracy," and stating that “democracy, freedom and human rights are Taiwan's core values." A menacing China, however, is increasing its military threats, so Taiwan must "accelerate its deterrence forces and strengthen its self-defense capabilities." Thus he advises that the U.S. must work far more closely with Taiwan's military, conducting joint exercises and moving towards a more formal military alliance. In 2020, the U.S. sold $5.9 billion worth of arms to the island, making it the fifth-largest recipient of American weaponry last year.
Other Taiwan-employed academics have chided the West on the pages of the Council’s website for its insufficient zeal in "deter[ring] Chinese aggression" against the island. "A decision by the United States to back down" — wrote Philip Anstrén, a Swedish recipient of a fellowship from the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs — "could damage the credibility of U.S. defense guarantees and signal that Washington's will to defend its allies is weak." Anstrén also insisted that "Europe's future is on the line in the Taiwan Strait." "Western democratic nations have moral obligations vis-à-vis Taiwan," he added on his blog, "and Western democracies have a duty to ensure that [Taiwan] not only survives but also thrives."
The reason this is important is that the Atlantic Council is an enormously influential think tank. Its board of directors is a who's-who in foreign policy statecraft, featuring no fewer than seven former CIA directors. Also on the board are many of the architects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and James Baker. When organizations like this begin beating the war drums, everybody should take note.
Perhaps the most strongly anti-Beijing think tank in Washington is the conservative Hudson Institute, an organization frequented by many of the Republican Party's most influential figures, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Vice-President Mike Pence and Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton. The words "China" or "Chinese" appear 137 times in Hudson's latest annual report, so focused on the Asian nation are they. Indeed, reading their output, it often appears they care about little else but ramping up tensions with Beijing, condemning it for its treatment of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Uyghur Muslims, and warning of the economic and military threat of a rising China.
Over the years, Hudson's efforts have been sustained by huge donations from TECRO. The Hudson Institute does not disclose the exact donations any sources give, but their annual reports show that TECRO has been on the highest tier of donors ($100,000+) every year since they began divulging their sponsors in 2015. In February, Hudson Senior Fellow Thomas J. Duesterberg wrote an op-ed for Forbes entitled "The Economic Case for Prioritizing a U.S.-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement," in which he extolled Taiwan's economy as modern and dynamic and portrayed securing closer economic ties with it as a no-brainer. Hudson employees have also traveled to Taiwan to meet and hold events with leading foreign ministry officials there.
The Hudson Institute also recently partnered with the more liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) to host an event with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who took the opportunity to make a great number of inflammatory statements about the "ever more challenging threats to free and democratic societies" China poses; applaud the U.S.' actions on Hong Kong; and talk about how Taiwan honors and celebrates those who died at the Tiananmen Square massacre. TECRO gave the CAP between $50,000 and $100,000 last year.
It is the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), however, that appears to receive the most Taiwanese money. According to its donor list, Taiwan gives as much money to it as the United States does — at least $500,000 last year alone. Yet all of the Taiwanese government money is put into CSIS's regional studies (i.e., Asia) program. Like Hudson employees, the CSIS calls for a free trade agreement with Taiwan and has lavished praise on the nation for its approach to tackling disinformation, describing it as a "thriving democracy and a cultural powerhouse." Although acknowledging that the reports were paid for by TECRO, CSIS insists that "all opinions expressed herein should be understood to be solely those of the authors and are not influenced in any way by any donation." In December, the CSIS also held a debate suggesting that "[w]ithin the next five years, China will use significant military force against a country on its periphery," exploring what the U.S. response to such an action should be.
Like the Atlantic Council, the CSIS organization is stacked with senior officials from the national security state. Its president and CEO is former Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre, while Henry Kissinger — former secretary of state and the architect of the Vietnam War — also serves on its council.
Please go to Mint Press News to read more.
By studying Taiwan's financial reports, MintPress has ascertained that the semi-autonomous island of 23 million people has, in recent years, given out millions of dollars to many of the largest and most influential think tanks in the United States. This has coincided with a strong upsurge in anti-China rhetoric in Washington, with report after report warning of China's economic rise and demanding that the U.S. intervene more in China-Taiwan disputes.
These think tanks are filled with prominent figures from both parties and have the ears of the most powerful politicians in Washington. It is in their offices that specialists draw up papers and incubate ideas that become tomorrow's policies. They also churn out experts who appear in agenda-setting media, helping to shape and control the public debate on political and economic issues.
Twenty years ago, a group of neoconservative think tanks like the Project for a New American Century, funded by foreign governments and weapons manufacturers, used their power to push for disastrous wars in the Middle East. Now, a new set of think tanks, staffed with many of those same experts who provided the intellectual basis for those invasions, is working hard to convince Americans that there is a new existential threat: China.
A fistful of dollars
In 2019, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) — for all intents and purposes, the Taiwanese embassy — donated between $250,000 and $499,999 to the Brookings Institute, commonly identified as the world's most influential think tank. Taiwanese tech companies have also given large sums to the organization. In turn, Brookings Institute staff like Richard C. Bush (a former member of the National Intelligence Council and a U.S. national intelligence officer for East Asia) vociferously champion the cause of Taiwanese nationalists and routinely condemn Beijing's attempts to bring the island more closely under control.
Last week, Brookings held an event called "Taiwan's quest for security and the good life," which began with the statement that "Taiwan is rightly praised for its democracy. Elections are free, fair, and competitive; civil and political rights are protected." It went on to warn that the "most consequential" challenge to the island's liberty and prosperity is "China's ambition to end Taiwan's separate existence."
According to another organization's latest financial disclosure, TECRO also gave a six-figure sum to the Atlantic Council, a think tank closely associated with NATO. It is unclear what the Atlantic Council did with that money, but what is certain is that they gave a senior fellowship to Chang-Ching Tu, an academic employed by the Taiwanese military to teach at the country's National Defense University. In turn, Tu authored Atlantic Council reports describing his country as a "champion [of] global democracy," and stating that “democracy, freedom and human rights are Taiwan's core values." A menacing China, however, is increasing its military threats, so Taiwan must "accelerate its deterrence forces and strengthen its self-defense capabilities." Thus he advises that the U.S. must work far more closely with Taiwan's military, conducting joint exercises and moving towards a more formal military alliance. In 2020, the U.S. sold $5.9 billion worth of arms to the island, making it the fifth-largest recipient of American weaponry last year.
Other Taiwan-employed academics have chided the West on the pages of the Council’s website for its insufficient zeal in "deter[ring] Chinese aggression" against the island. "A decision by the United States to back down" — wrote Philip Anstrén, a Swedish recipient of a fellowship from the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs — "could damage the credibility of U.S. defense guarantees and signal that Washington's will to defend its allies is weak." Anstrén also insisted that "Europe's future is on the line in the Taiwan Strait." "Western democratic nations have moral obligations vis-à-vis Taiwan," he added on his blog, "and Western democracies have a duty to ensure that [Taiwan] not only survives but also thrives."
The reason this is important is that the Atlantic Council is an enormously influential think tank. Its board of directors is a who's-who in foreign policy statecraft, featuring no fewer than seven former CIA directors. Also on the board are many of the architects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and James Baker. When organizations like this begin beating the war drums, everybody should take note.
Perhaps the most strongly anti-Beijing think tank in Washington is the conservative Hudson Institute, an organization frequented by many of the Republican Party's most influential figures, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Vice-President Mike Pence and Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton. The words "China" or "Chinese" appear 137 times in Hudson's latest annual report, so focused on the Asian nation are they. Indeed, reading their output, it often appears they care about little else but ramping up tensions with Beijing, condemning it for its treatment of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Uyghur Muslims, and warning of the economic and military threat of a rising China.
An excerpt from a 2020 Hudson Institute report on existential threats to the United States
Over the years, Hudson's efforts have been sustained by huge donations from TECRO. The Hudson Institute does not disclose the exact donations any sources give, but their annual reports show that TECRO has been on the highest tier of donors ($100,000+) every year since they began divulging their sponsors in 2015. In February, Hudson Senior Fellow Thomas J. Duesterberg wrote an op-ed for Forbes entitled "The Economic Case for Prioritizing a U.S.-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement," in which he extolled Taiwan's economy as modern and dynamic and portrayed securing closer economic ties with it as a no-brainer. Hudson employees have also traveled to Taiwan to meet and hold events with leading foreign ministry officials there.
The Hudson Institute also recently partnered with the more liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) to host an event with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who took the opportunity to make a great number of inflammatory statements about the "ever more challenging threats to free and democratic societies" China poses; applaud the U.S.' actions on Hong Kong; and talk about how Taiwan honors and celebrates those who died at the Tiananmen Square massacre. TECRO gave the CAP between $50,000 and $100,000 last year.
It is the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), however, that appears to receive the most Taiwanese money. According to its donor list, Taiwan gives as much money to it as the United States does — at least $500,000 last year alone. Yet all of the Taiwanese government money is put into CSIS's regional studies (i.e., Asia) program. Like Hudson employees, the CSIS calls for a free trade agreement with Taiwan and has lavished praise on the nation for its approach to tackling disinformation, describing it as a "thriving democracy and a cultural powerhouse." Although acknowledging that the reports were paid for by TECRO, CSIS insists that "all opinions expressed herein should be understood to be solely those of the authors and are not influenced in any way by any donation." In December, the CSIS also held a debate suggesting that "[w]ithin the next five years, China will use significant military force against a country on its periphery," exploring what the U.S. response to such an action should be.
Like the Atlantic Council, the CSIS organization is stacked with senior officials from the national security state. Its president and CEO is former Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre, while Henry Kissinger — former secretary of state and the architect of the Vietnam War — also serves on its council.
Please go to Mint Press News to read more.
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Source: The Unz Review
US Air Force Flew Full-Loaded F-16s from Japanese Base to Menace China
ANDREW ANGLIN • APRIL 20, 2021 • 33 COMMENTS
It is the Silver Wraith of the skies.
The Drive:
The four U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets that recently flew a mission over the highly contested South China Sea were photographed landing at Yokota Air Base in Japan, en route to their home base at Misawa. The images confirm that these jets were armed for counter-air operations with a heavy load of live air-to-air missiles. The jets’ appearance in the South China Sea last week coincided with the biggest presence of People’s Liberation Army aircraft in Taiwan's southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in recent times: 25 aircraft in all.
The Viper photos, taken by Iori, whose tweets can be found here, detail the jets’ extensive armament. Each jet was armed with five beyond-visual-range AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles and a single short-range AIM-9 Sidewinder — one of the latest AIM-9X missiles on some of the jets, or an older AIM-9M on the others. Under the belly, each aircraft was fitted with an AN/ALQ-184 electronic countermeasures self-protection pod. All of the weapons were live, a relatively uncommon sight, especially over Japan, and indicated that this was much more than a simple long-distance training mission and, instead, a calculated signal to the Chinese military and possibly even a contingency operation.
As evidenced by the AN/ASQ-213 HARM Targeting System, the distinctive pod-mounted sensor found under the right side of the aircraft’s intakes, these jets are the radar-killing Wild Weasel F-16CM versions but, on this occasion at least, they were carrying maximum air-to-air load-outs. That these live missiles were then taken over the sensitive South China Sea suggests a willingness to demonstrate U.S. ability to generate defensive combat air patrols (CAPs) in proximity to Taiwan, as well as other hotspots in the region.The American people should be asking if a war with China is actually desirable, but there seems to be no interest in that question.
The photos were taken on April 17, when all four of the jets that had been involved in the South China Sea flight on April 12 touched down at Yokota Air Base, in eastern Tokyo, at around 3:00 PM local time, presumably for a fuel stop, before departing again around 5:00 PM. They then flew home to Misawa Air Base, their home station, around 400 miles further north.
The people should ask: "How is this good for America?"
Instead, people seem to be totally unaware that it is even a question they should be asking.
Most right-leaning people in America are still stuck in a very unfortunate fantasy wherein Joe Biden is actually an agent of the Chinese. This would mean that China, through their control of Joe Biden, is running a massive smear campaign against itself, and threatening a war with itself.
Schizophrenically, right-wingers who more or less deny the coronavirus will also claim that China sent the coronavirus as some kind of biological weapon.
When these people start talking about alleged threats from China (most of which are not based in reality at all, a few of which are distorted truths), I've really focused on the fact that China is most concerned about Taiwan, and that the US could more or less get any demand fulfilled in exchange for surrendering Taiwan, but it just doesn't register.
Please go to The Unz Review to read more.
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Count on the British to ramp up war rhetoric with China.
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